together, both sides have drawn some lines in the sand when it comes to taxes. house speakerjohnboehnerearlier today said it's possible to get the nation's financial house in order without tax increases. >> i don't want to box myself in, and i don't want to box anybody else in. i think it's important for us to come to an agreement with the president, and by lowering rates and cleaning up the tax code we know that we're going to get more economic growth. >> here's what's at stake if they cannot come to a compromise. the congressional budget office says it would happen. the alternative minimum tax kicks in hiking taxes with more than half of married couples two children by $4,000 a year. it would ray taxes on workers and the trillion dollars in spending cuts that officials say cost jobs and slow economic growth. let me bring in our "news nation" political panel. we have zachary karabell and loy wis romano and david goodfriend. we have it covered. jonathan, i'll start with you. comparing what we heard from speaker boehner this morning and what we heard from the president

. >> the president has spain tospeakerboehnerandother leaders about plain going forward. what else do we know? >> reporter: it's significant. president obama called these leaders within the hours of his re-election sending a strong signal that he's serious about bipartisanship and working with the leaders and reaching across the aisle to get a compromise on the fiscal cliff and work through this it. the message he sent to the leaders is we need to work together to resolve this. i would point out that house speaker john boehner in his press conference yesterday echoed the president's sentiments to some extent saying he's willing to work with the president on the issue of taxes. that's the big issue here in washington. so signalling that he would be willing to work with the president. now, will this actually happen? of course, the republican conference is larger than the house, so speaker boehner is saying something in his conference going along with it are two different things. they're in a wait and see mode. we won't see the crisis of debt debate in the summer of 2011. >> i hope you're right.

he does certainly from the far right of his party. yousawboehnersaythat the party wants to be led. they want to be led as americans, not republicans. again, i think you have somebody like bill crystal who comes out and says republicans need to be more flexible in terms of talking about tax reform. i think norquist in that clip showed a real misreading of what the election was really about. i prish his use of the word -- >> an odd choice of words. >> poopy head. >> they got a thumping here. this is the first president since ronald reagan to win the popular vote in two consecutive elections. they're trying to deny his legitimacy still. >> not all. >> grover norquist is. >> and speaker boehner has said they're ready to be led. >> thank god for one reasonable person. >> he says he's the most reasonable. >> we'll see what happens in january, though. he has that radical right wing tea party caucus to deal with in the house. i want to see them come to grips with reality. >> great pleasure having you both on. as people continue to suffer in the wake of hurricane sandy, thousands are homel

reflection. but moving ahead,speakerboehnerwasasked whether paul ryan would be the leader of the party. he referred to him as the wonky guy. what are we to make of paul ryan? >> he is the wonky guy. that was a dismissive comment that the speaker made. what he was trying to say is that he's coming back here, the same guy, as when he left. he's going to be a voice on certain issues, but he's not going to be a leader in the party. >> thank you very much. a pleasure having both of you on today. thank you. >>> coming up, john maca fee, he's wanted for questioning in the murder of his neighbor. details ahead. >>> and just moments ago, president obama finished meeting with labor leaders at the white house. how much leeway will the left give the president when it comes to medicare and social security? that's a question posed by our first read team. we'll check in with them. >>> plus what's being called one of the prison's prime gigs. what's a prime gig behind bars? it's just one of the things we thought you should know. [ forsythe ] we don't just come up here for the view up in alaska. it's th